Is This Leonardo Portrait By Caravaggio?
Every once in a while, a new theory concerning one of art history’s greats emerges, raising questions about these dead, mostly white, and mostly male, artists. Did Rembrandt use optics to paint his self-portraits? Does this pair of panther-riding drunks represent the only surviving metal works by Michelangelo? Did van Gogh slice off his ear to stop his brother’s marriage? And was Mona Lisa a self-portrait of Leonardo da Vinci in drag, a portrait of his neighbor, or a cover-up of another portrait? While many of these claims are based on well-researched studies, some are more dubious. Sometimes a discovery can even seem like a full-on hoax, such as a portrait allegedly of a young Leonardo da Vinci recently unveiled last month at, curiously, an art gallery in Las Vegas. And making the finding even sweeter is the possibility that the artist responsible for painting it was Caravaggio. Details.
